Meat...and a possible return to form.

Recognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal. ~Ingrid Newkirk, National Director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Entirely unrelated is the fact that I have just finished a fairly major structural re-write of 'the alpha to omega'. I have prettied it up in places and cut away some of the more repetitive introspections. I now need the space of a few days before embarking upon a 'last'? re-read of the whole novel. Then, who knows, it could be joining 'is' on bookshelves across the globe in 2008. It would, in fact, be another good thing to put behind me, allowing me - motivating me - to get on with creating rather than re-hashing, and to see where 'the year of the monkey' is going to take me.

Cautious optimism surfaces.

Fame?

Since depositing both Benny and Binny and 'Is' in the school library, I've had a steady trickle of awed kids coming up to me asking, 'Is it true? You wrote a book?'

It's a good feeling. I feel inspiration brewing.

I've also completed my Counselling Diploma.

Scott Langston B.A., P.G.C.E., T.E.F.L., Dip. Coun.

How's that for a mouthful? God forbid that I ever see that written anywhere else...

A new muse

A month later and still no progress. I need another project to work on, something different, lighter maybe, that I can run to and hide myself in. I still have the latest proofs of ‘The Alpha to Omega’ to go through, the whole publisher/agent thing to do again… Something is stirring though. Gently, gently…

Thailand

Odd, that in arriving in Thailand, I feel that 'Year of the Monkey' will be finished here. Perhaps I needed a little distance from my subject...

End of an era?

I'm beginning to think that this blog might have served its purpose...

Nothing to do

I am listening to The Waterboys – ‘A New Life’. ‘The new life starts here.’ How blindingly obvious! Where else, and when else, would it – could it – start? ‘I can see my way so clear.’ This CD, notably the angst-ridden ‘Suffer’, saw me through a real life crisis when I was but 27, a mere sapling in the forest of life.

We find the inspiration we need where and when we most need it. Neale Donald Walsch wrote, ‘There is nothing you have to do’, and I only now appreciate the enormity of what that means. Enlightenment is not something which you have to seek, but something you have to recognise, to accept in yourself. I feel complete.

Progress

It’s 7.00am. I’m drinking an espresso, listening to the rain through the open windows as the rest of the family sleeps. Birdsong and the occasional car are the only sounds I can hear. Peace. To be short-lived, as it happens. Today my dad and his partner leave – they’ve been with us for just over a week. Tomorrow the Invisible Woman is of to Ireland for 5 days, leaving me with care of the brood. Mmmm… I’m not counting on much work getting done on the house until she returns.

The electrician should be here today or tomorrow to replace and move the water heater – we’ll be able to have showers here, which should be nice. Our ‘man what does’ should be starting on our new front door and have it ready for us before the end of the month – not bad considering it was ordered in July 2006. We also had confirmation of the quote for replacing the garage roof – it comes in at a very sweet 13,000€. It’s work that needs doing, so we basically have no choice. We’ll get a second devis to be certain that we’re not being ripped off. The same guy charged us 3000€ to bang a hole in the wall and build five steps down to the garden, so I am frankly suspicious. And then there are walls to be removed and walls to be built and staircases to install and roofs to be insulated and floors to lay. Why did we do this again?